tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the u.s. bracing for a potential category 3 hurricane. the states of emergency already. also breaking tonight, the emergency response under way right now. a toxic leak, thousands evacuating. there is concern at this hour over a potential explosion. and former football star brett favre revealing a stunning diagnosis tonight. first this evening, tropical storm helene gaining strength as it closes in on florida. hurricane warnings and watches

in place tonight, expected to hit as a category 3. mandatory evacuations, multiple states in the path of this system. ginger zee with the latest track. also breaking as we come on, the images coming in now, a toxic and flammable chemical leaking outside cincinnati. thousands evacuating, authorities moments ago saying they are concerned over the potential for an explosion now. many being urged to close doors and windows, and to seal them if you can. with president biden before world leaders at the u.n. today, tonight israel launching a new wave of deadly air strikes on beirut. the israeli military saying a top hezbollah commander was killed in a targeted missile attack. tens of thousands of people trying to escape. what the president said about the escalating crisis. ian pannell in beirut. election day, 42 days away now. donald trump and kamala harris on the economy and on immigration. former president trump in georgia. vice president harris headed to pennsylvania, and then to the border. tonight, football hall of famer brett favre's stunning reveal while on capitol hill.

his very personal battle, his diagnosis. overseas, an american woman is believed to be the first person to ever use what's called a suicide pod in switzerland. a criminal investigation now under way tonight. the 64-year-old woman from the midwest reportedly had suffered from an autoimmune condition. in kansas city tonight, the daring rescue. 23 stories up. also, 12 members of a university lacrosse team tonight seriously injured, several hospitalized after a workout conducted by a navy s.e.a.l. what the workout included. the earth about to get a second mini moon. in new york city tonight, who sean "diddy" combs is now sharing space with behind bars. the fireworks on capitol hill over the cost of those popular weight loss drugs. why are they so expensive? how the ceo answered. and america strong tonight. the grandmother hiking, she lost her footing. who found her and rescued her on that trail? it's remarkable.

>> announcer: from abc news world headquarters in new york this is "world news tonight." with david muir. >> david: good evening. we begin tonight with two breaking stories. this toxic leak. thousands evacuating outside cincinnati at this hour. there is concern over the potential for an explosion now. the images coming in just moments ago. but first, bracing for what could become a category 3 hurricane. states of emergency already up tonight. hurricane warnings and watches in florida and now georgia, as well. tropical storm helene gaining strength at this hour and bearing down, expected to become a major category 3 hurricane, with 115-mile-an-hour winds. up to a foot of rain possible. a dangerous storm surge. and flooding well inland. storm clouds gathering on the beaches of cancun, mexico ahead of helene's arrival there. expected to make landfall here in the u.s. on thursday. tonight, mandatory evacuations already under way. chief meteorologist ginger zee back with us tonight, leading us off with the latest track of this. hi, ginger. >> reporter: hey, david.

this storm should be a hurricane by tomorrow. once it's in the gulf, it is going to rapidly intensify. head toward the coast, make landfall thursday night. somewhere in the eastern panhandle or the big bend of florida. either way, major impacts well beyond that cone, and that's why we have widespread warnings including a warning from apalachicola to tallahassee, cedar key, crystal river. tampa bay is is in that hurricane watch. savannah, georgia with a tropical storm watch. let's talk about the number one loss of life and property, that is storm surge. 10 to 15 feet, steinhatchee, cedar key. crystal river, 6 to 10 feet. that's a lot of water in those low-lying areas. 4 to 8 feet around tampa bay, causes big problems. down to sarasota. and then, talk about the wind and timing. so, the wind will start to pick up, especially thursday. thursday night, when we see landfall. on this model, perry has a 120-mile-per-hour gust. then this thing cruises overnight, by 7:00 a.m. it's in western north carolina, with a 70-mile-per-hour gust at asheville. not just the winds that will knock down power lines and trees all the way up into southern appalachia, but that significant

risk of flash flooding, greenville, south carolina in there, too. david? >> david: ginger zee, you'll have the latest on "gma" first thing in the morning. thank you. in the meantime, to the emergency unfolding outside cincinnati, as i mentioned at this hour. the toxic and flammable chemical leak from a train in ohio. authorities just before we came on the air here tonight saying that are now concerned over the potential for an explosion in the hours ahead. they are hosing -- hoses dousing the train. thousands of families have been urged to leave the areas. homes and schools evacuated. and residents who are staying have been told to stay indoors and to try to seal their windows if they can. gio benitez with the images coming in now. >> reporter: tonight, the alarming scene. >> you can smell it. >> reporter: a train spewing a toxic chemical cloud into the air, sparking urgent evacuations in ohio. firefighters racing to the town of cleves, about 30 minutes west of cincinnati, spraying water on the railcars. the company that owns the train saying one of its railcars was venting styrene, a colorless, flammable, and highly volatile

liquid used to make plastics and rubber. >> it's nasty smelling. >> reporter: about 3,000 people near the scene urged to leave the area immediately. schools put on lockdown and evacuated. residents told to stay inside and seal off doors and windows. >> with the heat-up of the material in the car, that there is potential for an explosion. >> reporter: it comes more than a year after a devastating train derailment in east palestine, ohio that caused a hazardous chemical fire to burn for days, leading to a massive cleanup. and david, of course, as you mentioned, authorities tonight are very concerned about a potential explosion. that's why this is such a big deal. and as you can imagine, environmental agencies are responding right now to that scene, david. >> david: gio benitez covering this for us. gio, thank you. now, to the escalating war between israel and hezbollah, with president biden before world leaders at the u.n. today. the crisis escalating overseas. israel launching a new round of air strikes on lebanon, saying they've now killed another top hezbollah leader. hezbollah firing back, some rockets actually getting through

israel's iron dome defenses. president biden today in his final u.n. address as president calling for an end to the escalation, saying a diplomatic solution is still possible. our chief foreign correspondent ian pannell in beirut again tonight. >> reporter: tonight, intense fire between israel and hezbollah. world leaders fearing a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences. the chaos and fear here on the streets of beirut seen in video circulating online. israel saying it took out a top hezbollah commander. over the last 24 hours, israel firing 2,000 missiles and bombs on what it says are hezbollah targets. casualties are mounting, according to lebanese officials, over 500 are dead, including children, and over 1,800 injured. so many parts of the country left smoldering in ruin. residents running for their lives. these videos given to abc news document the terrifying journey of one young woman, gia. explosions everywhere. this time yesterday morning,

this school was completely empty, but in a matter of hours thousands and thousands of people flooded here from the south. now it's at capacity. we met one family here who made that same terrifying journey, traveling for 20 hours. two parents and their five children. baby mohammed is just 8 months old. hassan, who didn't want to show his face, says there was a lot of panic. his children crying in terror as he says rockets kept landing around them as they tried to get out. president biden at the u.n., saying the world is now at an inflection point. >> full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. even if the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. >> reporter: david, a senior u.s. official telling our martha raddatz that there's going to be another big round of attacks with hezbollah trying to move long-range missiles around, and israel mobilizing some ground forces for raids. david? >> david: ian pannell, our thanks to you, and to martha for that reporting. our team in the middle east, thank you. president biden, after addressing world leaders at the

u.n., will sit down exclusively with the hosts of "the view" here on abc tomorrow. his first interview since that debate in june that led to his ending his bid for re-election. that's tomorrow, 11:00 a.m. eastern, right here on abc. meanwhile, in the race for the white house, 42 days to go until the election. donald trump and kamala harris on the economy and on immigration this week. former president trump in georgia, vice president harris headed to pennsylvania, and then to the border in arizona. and the new polling tonight, several new national polls showing kamala harris with a slight edge over donald trump, but within the margin of error. and in the key battleground states, several states with donald trump with a slight edge, others with kamala harris with the edge. this is a very close race. here's rachel scott. >> reporter: tonight, in battleground georgia, former president donald trump zeroing in on the top issue for voters, the economy, promising that if he wins, the u.s. will scoop up manufacturing jobs from other countries. >> we're going to take their factories. american workers will no longer be worried about losing your jobs to foreign nations. instead, foreign nations will be worried about losing their jobs

to america. >> reporter: trump says he'll bring business back home by slashing taxes and regulations, and by imposing sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, something vice president kamala harris says will drive up prices on everything from groceries to gas to medicine. many economists agree with her. and today, the senate's top republican says he does, too. >> i'm not a fan of tariffs. they raise the prices for american consumers. >> reporter: the vice president's team pointing to the more than 700,000 manufacturing jobs created during the biden/harris administration. harris today leaning into what's become a defining issue for her campaign, abortion, saying she wants to abolish the senate filibuster to restore reproductive rights as they existed under roe versus wade with a simple majority vote instead of the two-thirds vote now required. >> i've been very clear. i think we should eliminate the filibuster for roe and get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom.

>> reporter: trump has boasted about nominating three of the supreme court justices who overturned roe versus wade, keenly aware he's paid a political price with female voters. the former president now making an all-out appeal to the women who are concerned about abortion rights. >> i am your protector. i want to be your protector. as president, i have to be your protector. you will no longer be ab lonely, or scared. you will no longer be in danger. you're not going to be in danger any longer. you will no longer have anxiety from all of the problems our country has today. you will be protected, and i will be your protector. women -- [ cheers and applause ] women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. you will no longer be thinking about abortion. that's all they talk about. abortion.

>> reporter: but tonight, a harris campaign spokeswoman with a blunt response -- "after ripping away our reproductive freedom, now he's trying to tell us how to think." >> david: so, let's bring in rachel scott, here with us, a rare moment in studio in new york, instead of on the campaign trail. we so appreciate your long hours on the campaign trail. so we've got former president trump in georgia, on the economy. we've got vice president harris going to pennsylvania on the economy, and then she's going to arizona to the border. >> reporter: both of these candidates keenly aware that immigration and the economy are top issues to voters. so first, harris will be delivering that speech on the economy in pittsburgh, and then she travels to battleground arizona, with a visit to our southern border. she's expected to tout the biden administration's executive a st drop in the number of migrants crossing the border. she's also expected to say she would sign that bipartisan border will into law that donald trump urged republicans to reject, david. >> david: if she's elected. rachel scott here with us in new york. rachel, great to have you. we continue now with the news tonight, and to capitol hill now, where hall of fame

quarterback brett favre today revealed his very personal battle. his parkinson's diagnosis. here on that, trevor ault. >> reporter: tonight, stunning news from controversial nfl hall of famer brett favre, revealing he's battling parkinson's disease. >> i've recently been diagnosed with parkinson's. this is also a cause dear to my heart. >> reporter: the 54-year-old former quarterback sharing the diagnosis today during testimony on capitol hill about welfare reform and accountability. parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes parts of the brain to deteriorate, affecting movement and cognition. favre's 20-year career possibly made him more susceptible to the disease. hundreds, probably thousands of concussions, including this career-ending one in 2010. >> it's one of the few times i kind of went blank there for a while in my career. >> in general, repeated hits to the head are linked to neurodegenerative diseases. concussions and even sub-concussive hits can alter brain structure and chemistry. >> reporter: and a new study shows 1 in 3 former nfl players

surveyed believe they have the neurodegenerative disease cte. favre sharing his experience on the football field in the new documentary "concussed." >> i can't tell you how many times my head hit the turf and stars or fireworks or whatever went off. i didn't think that was a concussion. it's hard to even put a number on how many of those i had. >> reporter: david, the average age of onset of parkinson's is the early to mid 60s. and brett favre is just 54. though we should note, some people are diagnosed with early onset parkinson's in their 50s, regardless of their career. david? >> david: trevor ault tonight. trevor, thank you. overseas tonight, and to an investigation involving suicide, which is legal in switzerland. tonight here, the case of an american woman believed to be the first person to use what's called a suicide pod in switzerland. the 64-year-old woman, from the midwest, reportedly suffered from an autoimmune condition. here tonight, james longman. >> reporter: a criminal investigation is under way tonight after the first-known

death of an american woman in a so-called suicide pod in switzerland. the woman is described as a 64-year-old from the midwest who had an autoimmune condition. police say she died in a forest near the german border where the capsule called the sarco pod was placed. it's the first time it's ever been used. and it allows a person to release nitrogen gas into the chamber at the touch of a button. that removes all the oxygen, causing the person to fall asleep and then suffocate. assisted dying is legal in switzerland, but only without "external assistance." multiple arrests have been made in this case for incitement and the aiding and abetting of suicide. the inventor of the capsule is australian physician philip nitschke, a known advocate of the right to die movement. >> there are some people who don't approve of the idea of assisted suicide at all. they would never approve it. they're not my beliefs, and they're not the beliefs of many people who decide they want to control their deaths. >> reporter: david, the capsule has now been seized by police. anyone found guilty of these charges could face up to five

years in prison. david? >> david: james longman reporting from london tonight. james, thank you. back here in the u.s., to capitol hill. lawmakers are asking why americans are being forced to pay so much for those game-changing weight loss drugs that treat diabetes and obesity. the ceo of novo nordisk, the danish company that makes ozempic and wegovy, in the hot seat today. he was asked to lower the price of these life-saving medicines. wegovy costs americans $1,300 a month, five times more than it costs in canada, 14 times more expensive than it costs in the uk. >> if you don't act, 40,000 people a year could die. is this acceptable to you? >> any prospects of patients not getting access to the medicine they need, i think, is terrifying. and we have to solve this challenge together. >> david: the ceo not promising to cut the price, but saying he is open to talking about lower prices. when we come back here tonight, in new york city, who sean "diddy" combs is now

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ursula bannister was hiking down the high rock lookout trail. but shortly after taking this picture she accidentally stepped into a shallow hole and broke her ankle. alone, calling for help. soon after, strangers began racing to help, and among them, airman first class troy may, 62nd aircraft maintenance squadron. that off-duty airman from joint base louis mcchord eventually telling that grandmother he would carry her on his back to get her down that trail. slowly, carefully, on a mission, nearly two miles down. it took more than three hours in all until they would all eventually link up with search and rescue, who then got her to the hospital. right here tonight -- >> hello, mr. muir. >> david: airman first class may. >> carrying her down that evening wasn't the easiest thing to do, but it was the right thing to do. >> david: and joining us, too, ursula. >> hi, david. >> david: that grandmother and hiker is grateful tonight to all of those who helped her, especially that airman. >> they were unselfish and giving. heartfelt thanks to all the

people who helped me off the trail. >> david: well, ursula, we are glad you are home and you are safe. airman may to the rescue. and we salute you. i'll see you right back here tomorrow night. have some new tools, and they target more than drivers. >> flames in the backyard. smoke towering above homes when a three alarm fire sparked in redwood city today. here's what neighbors grabbed as they evacuated. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. the inland heat is fading. i'll show you the changing forecast for tomorrow and beyond. coming up. >> always live. abc seven news starts right now >> this is exactly what san francisco wants to stop and the supervisors just unanimously

approved new legislation to do just that. good evening. i'm karina nova, and i'm dan ashley. >> today's vote isn't the final one. that's next week. but it is a step forward to stop. what many see as dangerous, destructive and infuriating. >> all right, let's get right to suzanne vaughn with more on this. suzanne joshua pearce rides up and down the embarcadero every day, and he has seen dirt bike riders swarm the area. >> on saturday, there was a group of about 150 and spend the whole time just revving their engines and doing wheelies and stuff. one group was all dirt bikes and the other group was harleys, dirt bikes and a bunch of like three wheelers and quad. >> pearce has also seen and heard the cars sideshows police and local leaders say the sideshows and dirt bike rides are dangerous and can lead to destructive behavior. the san francisco board of supervisors is considering legislation that would make it illegal to promote sideshows